Velominati Super Prestige: Milano-San Remo

RDV wins La Primavera in 1973

The second annual Velominati Super Prestige kicks off with La Primavera, Milano-San Remo on March 19. The first Monument of the year, MSR is the first true showdown of the year where all the big names will be en forme and willing to sell their mothers to notch this prestigious win. Although known for its famous climbs including the Cipressa and the Poggio, it isn’t the terrain that poses the greatest challenge in this race, but it’s distance. At almost 300km, this race is a monster. Without having ever ridden it, I can tell you with zero confidence that the Poggio is not a steep or difficult climb, but with a big pile of kilometers already ridden, even its moderate gradient will weigh heavy in the legs.

MSR often finishes in a bunch sprint, but not always. With a well-timed attack on the Poggio and more than a handful of seconds buffer before starting the descent, riders with technical descending skills (sorry, Les Freres Grimpeur, never gonna happen) can stay away and spoil the day for the fast men.

We find ourselves with a pile of data gleaned from watching Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, but La Primavera happens to be enough of a wild-card that all that data will only serve to cloud judgement. Our advice? Take out the radio earpiece to and vote on feel.

The winner of this VSP edition will earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker and all reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free personalized Velominati Shop Apron. This year we’ve enhanced the entry mechanism; if you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the designated area above the posts section, bearing in mind that entry/modification of picks closes at 5am Pacific time on the day of the race. Check the Super-Prestige main page for rules and scoring information.

Good luck.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Marcus says:

Mar 20 2011 at 1:47 pm

@frank
I am just wondering how any of you have made a connection between Goss' win and New Zealand? It's like linking COTHOs tour wins and Canada?
Netraam says:

Mar 20 2011 at 2:00 pm

@frank
You have to thank our old Dutch friend Abel Tasman for that. He discovered NZ, Tasmania and missed Australia.
Jeff in PetroMetro says:

Mar 20 2011 at 2:02 pm

@frank

We'll come up with something befitting your position. Don't worry. Right now, I'm thinking maybe I'll just change your screen name to LOSER. Simple, clean, elegant.
Of course, you'll give me back my regular screen name IF I redeem myself.
G'phant says:

Mar 20 2011 at 2:04 pm

frank :
@allAll this Aussie-NZ talk brings up a question for me. Where is Zealand? Because according to my assumed understanding of Colonial etiquette, NEW Zealand must have originally been a colony of the OLD Zealand, right?
As for Aussie/NZ, it seems very reminiscent of how Dutchmen feel about Flemish cycling; you wanna see a mad Dutchman? (You don't.) Then call him a Belgian. But when it comes to the classics, our colors start to really run...At least mine do.

When I was a grad student in London, a grad student from San Francisco asked me to explain where New Zealand was. I tried. I really did. But as she didn't know where Australia, Japan, or China were, it was a fruitless exercise. Eventually she confess that she had been surprised, upon landing in London, to find that England was not part of the same land mass as Europe. She, like me, was at that time studying psychology. I think I can trace my decision not to pursue it as a profession to that moment. So, Frank, without wioshing to suggest the US educational system has similarly faailed you, see the folllwing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand. Aotearoa (which literally translates as "land of the long white cloud")[8] is the current MÄori name for New Zealand, and is also used in New Zealand English. It is unknown whether MÄori had a name for the whole country before the arrival of Europeans, with Aotearoa originally just referring to the North Island.[9] Abel Tasman sighted the islands in 1642 and named them Staten Landt, assuming they were connected to land off the southern tip of South America.[10] In 1645 Dutch cartographers renamed the islands Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland.[11][12] British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand.[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeeland. Zeeland ( pronunciation (help·info)), also called Zealand in English and Zeelandic, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands (hence its name, meaning "sea-land") and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg.

Hope that helps.

BTW, New Zealand and Australia are not part of the same land mass.
Jarvis says:

Mar 20 2011 at 2:09 pm

Fucksticks

@Frank
I know I did shit mate, but did you have to leave me out of the results completely? By the way, way to go on the numbers on the start line
Pedale.Forchetta says:

Mar 20 2011 at 2:10 pm

@G'phant
eheheh...
Marko says:

Mar 20 2011 at 2:30 pm

speaking of Nova Zeelandica or whateverthefuck, what the hell happened to KiwiCyclist? I miss that dude. Did you finally knock him off, G'phant?
Marcus says:

Mar 20 2011 at 2:59 pm

@Marko
Like many of Gphants countrymen, kiwicyclist is over here with us in Oz. Expect something from the loser shortly. He likes attention - and is also a classic example of a kiwi who claims an Australian victory as his own. Except when it comes to rugby of course - which only interests the middle and upper classes of two Australian states so doesn't count
minion says:

Mar 20 2011 at 2:59 pm

Marcus :
@frankI am just wondering how any of you have made a connection between Goss' win and New Zealand? It's like linking COTHOs tour wins and Canada?

You mean he's not Canadian?
Steampunk says:

Mar 20 2011 at 4:23 pm

@minion
Ahem! Too small, actually. We like our cyclists big"”Tuft, Rollin, Hesjedal"”basically, just too small for hockey...